eir share significantly shortly before the end of the takeover offer period. Tognum shareholders have until June 1 to tender their shares. On May 17, Daimler and Rolls-Royce increased their joint offer for Tognum to EUR26 per share from EUR24, and thus won support from Tognum's supervisory and management boards. Asly recovering after the U.S. economic recession and limited access to credit sent the industry into a tailspin in 2009. From January through April, survey respondents provided financing for $19.6 billion of equipment purchases, up 27.2% from the same period in 2010. "All of April's business performance indicators appear to provide evidence that the equipment-finance sector continues to gain momentum," said William Sutton, president of the Washington-based finance association. Loan portfolio quality indicators in the survey improved in April, suggesting the industry is beginning to overcome the bad loans and tenuous credit of some loan recipients. Loans and leases past due by more than 30 days amounted to 3.3% of survey respondents' net receivables last month, down 3.6% from a year ago and down from 3.5% in March. Loan charge-offs amounted to 0.8% of respondents' net receivables in April, down from 1.6% in April 2010, and down from the 1.3% in March. Seventy-six percent of the loan applications submitted during April were approved, up from 69% a year earlier and up one percentage point from March. The year-over-year improvement reflects easing credit standards as lenders displayed imphat he said was mostly positive feedback. Two weeks later, he went through the same exercise when fans took him up on a challenge to get his wife to 20,000 Twitter followers. So he found another scene, went through the same editing and tightening process, and posted it to another set of positive reviews.Smith said those experiences proved therapeutic and inspiring. "I want the feedback because that inspires you, makes you want to produce it," Smith told NHL.com. "People start writing the loveliest things if they like it – and even if they don't like it, you tend to skip over those. But the ones that like it, when you get into it, when they get what you're trying to say and accomplish, it's a really nice thing. It fuels you. It makes you want to work harder. It's the whole pat on the back thing."Based on those two instances, I have a new plan for 'Hit Somebody.' I'm going to publish the script way before I make the movie."That would be a pretty bold departure from the norm. Most fans never see the scripts of their favorite films, and if they do, they're published long after the movie has come out. But in Smith's mind, releasing the full script for "Hit Somebody" is a blatantly obvious move."It's so much more difficult to explain your intentions to people or to open up your head and let them see what the plan is or how you connect the dots," Smith said. "It's so much easier to just say here and cut to the chase. So much of film, if you're a writer or director, is predicated on keeping it secret. It's my currency, right? But … it feels stupid to be working on something in the dark that you just want to share. The only reason we do it is because we want people to see it, want people to share in the feeling, the emotion."For Smith, hockey is all about emotion. A born-and-bred New Jersey native, he lives and dies with his beloved Devils. One of his great thrills was learning all-time Devil Ken Daneyko was one of the people who read the online scenes and provided positive feedback. "There’s no question that his passion for the game, even just in this little scene here, comes out," Daneyko told Entertainment Weekly's website PopWatch.com. "Buddy shooting pucks against the barn brings me back. Kevin captures a lot of what young hockey players do. If you weren't shooting against the barn, you were putting boards up and shooting hundreds of pucks a day into the garage. You'd miss the board and your parents would come out and say, 'Stop! You're wrecking the garage!' He knows the game."That type of support brings a smile to Smith's face. "I haven't played professional hockey, haven't written about professional hockey, and I know I don't know more about professional hockey than most," he said. "I can't say ‘quiz me on anything.’ But sometimes passion will go a lot further than experience."Besides the Devils, Smith finds passion in three DVDs that rarely are farther than an arm's length away -- "Hockey - A People's History;" "The Boys On The Bus," and its sequel, "The Boys Are Back;" and the "Legends of Hockey" collection."I don't get (writer’s) block, but whenever I want to get in the mood to write, I'll … watch this for a few minutes and start writing," Smith said. As readily as Smith seems to share his script, he's also willing to share casting details. Goodman and Michael Parks, who have received strong reviews for their work in "Red State," already have signed on. Another actor from "Red State," Nicholas Braun, will star in the title role.Braun, 23, is 6-foot-6, but needs to bulk up to fit the body type of a 1970s enforcer. Smith said another problem is how Braun looks."He's a beautiful kid, a good-looking dude," said Smith. "That role is going to … I think it's important to show progression. Our makeup person is going to be a pretty key job when it comes to that stuff. You want him to be fresh-faced and boyish, but by the end of the movie he has to look haggard and beaten. Even though he's only going to be 30, he's got to look 40 at that point to play it for that ending."Smith also is renowned for casting his friends in his movies, and since he says "Hit Somebody" will be the final film he writes and directs, he's going to try to cast as many of them as possible. That list includes cinematic heavyweights like Seth Rogen, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell and Tracy Morgan.In a hockey movie that focuses so much on the grittier, more fistic aspects of the game, it's roles for two other Smith co-stars that piques the interest:Will we see Matt Damon and Ben Affleck drop the gloves?"What a good thought. I hadn't thought about that," Smith said with a laugh. "In my head, both of those dudes are on the Boston team Buddy gets traded to. The team is called the Boston Bobby Oars, and they're always in legal trouble with the Boston Bruins. Because you can't call it the Bobby Orrs, (but they say), 'We're not talking about your Bobby Orr, oars bob in the water, it's a bobbing oar."Obviously Buddy won't be an NHL player; Smith said the film, which will span the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, will exist in a WHA-like league. However, the NHL will be seen as the in-the-distance goal, much like Major League Baseball is referenced in the baseball film "Bull Durham.""The NHL is not a character," Smith said. "The NHL is a distant… whenever people talk about it, they talk about, 'The Show.' They talk about the big names, but we don't dwell in that world. We don't meet G